Swath-height error involves the variation in the swath of ink that printheads in a printing device, such as in an inkjet printer, print on media. Variation in the swath height may directly impact print quality, and may be responsible for so-called swath boundary banding. Single-pass printing is especially sensitive to boundary banding, because errors may be difficult to cover up with masking techniques. As printer carriage speeds have increased over time, dynamic swath-height error due to aerodynamic effects has become more and more prevalent, especially during single-pass, bi-directional printing. Single-pass printing, and rapid carriage speeds, are typical today to meet expected printer throughput goals. In the ink-dispensing printhead structure carried by a typical printer carriage, the end printheads in the usual group of printheads are the most affected by this phenomena of swath-height error.
A printing device is provided which includes ink-dispensing structure which carries a printhead with a leading edge, and which moves in a printing sweep downstream across a printzone, a fairing structure, and a mounting which supports mounting the fairing structure for movement with the printhead downstream from the leading edge of the printhead in a position configured to reduce aerodynamic turbulence associated with the leading edge of the printhead during movement of the printhead downstream across the printzone.